Zoe Helene contributed “Psychedelic Feminism—We Are Wildlife,” to the upcoming anthology, Infinite Perception: The Power of Psychedelics for Global Transformation, edited by Ocean Malandra.

(This title will release Summer 2024)

Psychedelic Feminism—We Are Wildlife (Excerpt)

Humans can be exceptionally creative, clever, and courageous. We’re blessed with an insatiable curiosity and a keen desire to communicate—a superb combination—and our propensity for love is profound. We have immeasurable potential and truly are capable of greatness. And as a species, we have lost our way.
Our species suffers from megalomaniacal delusions of grandeur. The constructs we have created of human supremacy and male supremacy have proven deadly—insidious, yet omnipresent—and we are collectively enslaved by these forces as if enchanted.

Human supremacy is one of the most destructive (and self-destructive) constructs our species has manifested. The moment we proclaimed ourselves better than, or more important than, other species was the moment we started down the fast track to devolution. Other cruel forms of supremacy such as sexism, racism, classism, ageism, and ableism are also constructs, cut from the same “othering” cloth, and mutually dependent. They’re predatory, ultimately cannibalistic, and they brought us to where we are today—The Age of Extinction.

Male supremacy is so deeply entangled with human supremacy that it is difficult to distinguish one from the other. Patriarchy is a euphemism for male supremacy, and while no one alive today is responsible for creating patriarchy, everyone and everything on Earth is hurt by it. If we continue living under the delusions of these constructs, we destroy ourselves and all of life on earth as we know it.

Not everyone is violent, power-hungry, grotesquely greedy, and asleep at the wheel—but too many are. The reality is, many people who have risen to power appear willing and able to destroy this genius of a planet we inhabit, spending precious resources to develop more ways to wage war, and explore other moons and planets so we can colonize, overpopulate, and destroy them, too.

The Fates are not amused.

Zoe Helene, M.F.A., advocates for the arts, women, wildlife and wilderness, and the right to journey with sacred psychoactive and psychedelic plants and fungi—our coevolutionary allies. She founded Cosmic Sister (@CosmicSister), an environmental feminist collective and creative studio with interconnected advocacy projects including Ancestor Medicine, Temeno GAIA, and Psychedelic Feminism, which she originated to support Women of the Psychedelic Renaissance. Zoe believes creating a true balance of power across the gender spectrum—globally—is the only way humans (and non-humans) will survive and that it is our moral responsibility to protect and defend the rights of all earthlings and Earth herself. She is a spiritual agnostic who identifies as Indigenous in diaspora in honor of ancestors who developed sophisticated, nature-based, female-led, entheogen-elevated mystery traditions dating to the Neolithic era or farther, and is proudly part of the global herstory, reclamation, revival, and rematriation movement. Zoe grew up exploring primary rainforest and teeming tidepools in Aotearoa (New Zealand) and was mentored by the legendary theatrical Patricia Zipprodt. An artist and educator, her work has been covered by top-tier media outlets. She is happily married to ethnobotanist Chris Kilham.

“My ancestors felt no separation from nature. All living beings—mythical, mystical and otherwise—had spirit, as did objects, places, earth elements, and earth phenomenon. I have come to embrace these energies and entities as myriad kin, and this worldview as treasured cultural heritage.” — ZOE HELENE

Infinite Perception: The Power of Psychedelics for Global Transformation is an anthology of voices from the front line of the Psychedelic Renaissance, with Co-Editors journalist Ocean Malandra and neuroscientist and Harvard researcher Natalie Dyer PhD. The volume includes contributions and interviews from prominent voices like Dennis McKenna of The McKenna Academy, Zoe Helene of Cosmic Sister, and Rick Strassman of The Spirit Molecule as well indigenous shamans from the Amazon Rainforest to the Arctic Circle.